Fall – Early Winter Garden Maintenance Tips

Colors, interesting seed heads, and the last visits of the year of some birds and insects make me appreciate the change of seasons, even when I’m not ready for a drop in temperatures. . Here are some fall and early winter maintenance tips/reminders:

Do not cut back your native perennials or grasses this fall. They not only provide food for wildlife but shelter in fall and winter. For example, many butterflies, toads, fireflies and other insects overwinter in leaf litter and organic matter. Birds, wild rabbits and other wildlife use leaves, seed heads, twigs and branches for food, nesting material and shelter from the cold. Some native bees overwinter in hollow plant stems. Plus your garden is so much more interesting when plants are covered with snow or frost, or are rustling in the wind. To learn more, please read: Put down those Pruners!

Collect some native seed from your garden to share with others or spread in other parts of your landscape. Here are some basic seed collecting tips .

Sow perennial seeds directly into your prepared garden bed. You can even sow seed when there’s snow on the ground.

Cut off the seeds heads of more aggressive native plants to prevent them from re-seeding into the garden. Some gardeners do this with native Cup Plant, Indian Grass, Goldenrods, and False Sunflower. Leave the seed heads in a tray for wildlife to enjoy.

Fall is a good time to smother lawn to create new garden beds.

Continue to water your plants during droughts, especially trees and shrubs, if the soil is not frozen.

Wild rabbits often eat small trees and shrubs during winter when there’s little else to eat. Rabbit proof young trees and shrubs with 2-3′ high chicken wire. Secure wire with U-shaped garden pins along the bottom. A separate brush pile and water source can help rabbits survive the winter. Check the Internet for more suggestions.

If you want to plant perennials in early fall, remove or prune off all the flowers and seed heads. This will help the plant focus it’s remaining energy on making roots. Watch for frost heaving.

If you can’t plant all your perennials before early October, you can overwinter them in a protected spot and mound leaves around the plants when the weather is consistently cold.

Native Northern Sea Oats, Coralberry, Eastern Red Cedar mixed with other evergreens and a burlap bow, make a very nice natural arrangement that will last many months outdoors.

Hope for a nice blanket of snow this winter. Snow not only adds moisture to the ground but provides a layer of insulation which reduces frost heaving of plants installed in fall while protecting plant roots.

Contact Good-Natured Landscapes for an earth-friendly, custom landscape plan so you will be ready to install next spring! We can still design your landscape in between snow cover.

Thanks Leslie. Forgot one important thing – we all need to turn shut off our outside water using the shut-off valve located inside your house, usually in a basement or crawl space. I like to remove my hoses, store them, and drain any water in the line by turning on the outside spigot for a day or two to give all water a chance to evaporate, then I close it again so no cold air enters the water pipe from the outside. See the Internet for more info.